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Robin's nest

Big plans ... chef Robin Wickens.
Big plans ... chef Robin Wickens.Eddie Jim

New Royal Mail Hotel chef Robin Wickens was looking to buy the shop next door to his Apollo Bay provedore to open a restaurant when he was offered the position at the Dunkeld three-hatter.

On what he will bring to the restaurant, Wickens says: ''It's tough when you walk into something like this [referring to previous chef Dan Hunter's legacy] but my food is different.''

Explaining that he is looking forward to working with the kitchen garden on the grounds of the hotel, he also wants to get to know the local farmers and producers, ''I've been out of Melbourne for three years now; I love being so connected to local produce.''

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Wickens, who was born in Britain but is now Australian ''except when the cricket is on'', will keep his produce store operating in Apollo Bay.

''I have great staff who run it well,'' he says, and will leave there at the end of August to start at Royal Mail in early September.

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